Edlington attack: Publish the report

Telegraph View: It is hard to "learn the lessons" from the Edlington
attack when the Government refuses to publish the report revealing social
services' failings.

The country has been shocked and revolted by the case of sadistic torture inflicted on two young children in Edlington, South Yorks, by boys scarcely older than their victims. The ritual promises have been made to "learn the lessons" from the mistakes made in monitoring the dysfunctional family that spawned the brothers, who have been detained for a minimum of five years. However, it is hard to see how this will be possible if the Government persists in its refusal to publish more details from the serious case review that exposes the failings of social services over a lengthy period.

There have been too many instances now of serious shortcomings in the way vulnerable children are dealt with for the public to have any confidence in the argument that publication of the review will be damaging. The Conservatives are right to argue, as David Cameron did in the Commons last week, that transparency and openness are essential. The Government says it is guided by advice from social services officials but they are parti pris in this matter and should not be allowed to exercise a veto. So far, we have had only an executive summary of the investigation into the way the case was handled, with most of the details removed. How are we to know whether the failings are being addressed if we are not told what they were?

This is not about bashing social workers or seeking scapegoats: the people who were really to blame here are the brothers' parents, who so far have remained hidden behind a mask of anonymity. But the country needs to be assured that the summary is an accurate distillation of the full report, shorn only of the most sensitive details. Without such accountability, it will not be long before ministers are once again promising to "learn the lessons" of another avoidable calamity.